One of the camps that I visited is the home to a research project focused exclusively on predators. They have many lions and wild dogs in 'captivity' for their research and we visited the animals on feeding day. Here's a video of the wild dogs getting fed (they're eating donkey).
We walked in on foot, which I was very hesitant to do after seeing what these animals can do on past safaris.
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
My Day with the Bushmen - Videos
I'm sorry that I haven't posted anything for a couple of weeks, but I've been incredibly busy since returning home from my last Africa trip. Here are some videos from the day that I spent in the Kalahari Desert with the San (bushman) family. This was one of the coolest experiences that I've ever had!
Here we are just starting on our walk:
This is when we stopped for lunch. You can see the beetles before they got roasted, and there is the shell of a leopard tortoise in the background - that is used as a serving dish for the nuts that were prepared for us.
Following lunch the bushmen wanted to wash down the food with a cold beverage. Here you'll see the patriarch of the family dig up an ostrich egg that was filled with water and buried weeks ago (how they remember where it's buried is incredible). The water is underground so it actually stays cold. They have these 'ostrich egg canteens' buried throughout the desert.
Game Time!!! Here's a video of them playing their javelin-style game. One of the guys was incredible at this, but I didn't get any of his great throws on video. I managed a couple of good tosses, but it was quite difficult.
The last game we played will look familiar - jumprope. However, their jumprope is made out of the hide of an eiland - trust me it can hurt! I made it through their whipping antelope skin on my first attempt, but got caught up on my second. Enjoy watching me make a fool of myself!
Finally, as the sun started to set they built another fire and shared their cultural songs and dances with us. A great ending to an unforgettable day...
Here we are just starting on our walk:
This is when we stopped for lunch. You can see the beetles before they got roasted, and there is the shell of a leopard tortoise in the background - that is used as a serving dish for the nuts that were prepared for us.
Following lunch the bushmen wanted to wash down the food with a cold beverage. Here you'll see the patriarch of the family dig up an ostrich egg that was filled with water and buried weeks ago (how they remember where it's buried is incredible). The water is underground so it actually stays cold. They have these 'ostrich egg canteens' buried throughout the desert.
Game Time!!! Here's a video of them playing their javelin-style game. One of the guys was incredible at this, but I didn't get any of his great throws on video. I managed a couple of good tosses, but it was quite difficult.
The last game we played will look familiar - jumprope. However, their jumprope is made out of the hide of an eiland - trust me it can hurt! I made it through their whipping antelope skin on my first attempt, but got caught up on my second. Enjoy watching me make a fool of myself!
Finally, as the sun started to set they built another fire and shared their cultural songs and dances with us. A great ending to an unforgettable day...
Monday, May 16, 2011
A Day with the Bushmen
Last Thursday (May 12th) was one of the coolest days I've ever had in Africa. I spent the entire day with a San (Bushman) family in the Kalahari Desert. The Bushmen are the oldest culture/civilization on earth - these are the mother fuckers that speak click! They live throughout Southern Africa but the largest population today is found in the Central Kalahari. They live off of the things that they find around them - plants, roots, fruits & nuts, animals, etc.
We spent a few hours in the morning walking through the desert and they showed us how they live. As we walked we collected nuts, berries, pods and jewel beetles. At around noon we stopped and they built a fire out of sticks and grass in about five minutes. As the kids ran around and played the women cooked - roasting all that we had collected in the open fire. As the women cooked, the men were busy getting the drinks - they dug up roots and bulbs of specific plants and showed us how to get water from them. They also strategically bury ostrich eggs (which are huge) filled with water throughout the desert; this is so they always have water in case they can't find the proper plants. Lunch was served. Some of the nuts were decent, others gross, and I can safely say that was the first and last time that I'll be eating jewel beetles...
In the afternoon we continued with more activities. They showed us how they track animals and hunt, including setting up traps and shooting small poison tipped arrows.
Then it was time for fun and games. We played traditional bushmen games and they did traditional singing and dancing. Their games were fairly basic but incredibly fun. I definitely made a fool of myself at first, but after awhile got the hang of it and was able to hold my own. The best game was a mix between cricket and javelin - after a running approach to a mound of sand and grass you throw a spear so it short hops the mound and then takes off. This was extremely difficult but I managed a couple of decent throws and it was incredibly fun. After playing for quite some time the family sang and danced as the sun set. The perfect end to an incredible day that I will never forget.
I'll post some videos from the day once I'm back in the states...
We spent a few hours in the morning walking through the desert and they showed us how they live. As we walked we collected nuts, berries, pods and jewel beetles. At around noon we stopped and they built a fire out of sticks and grass in about five minutes. As the kids ran around and played the women cooked - roasting all that we had collected in the open fire. As the women cooked, the men were busy getting the drinks - they dug up roots and bulbs of specific plants and showed us how to get water from them. They also strategically bury ostrich eggs (which are huge) filled with water throughout the desert; this is so they always have water in case they can't find the proper plants. Lunch was served. Some of the nuts were decent, others gross, and I can safely say that was the first and last time that I'll be eating jewel beetles...
In the afternoon we continued with more activities. They showed us how they track animals and hunt, including setting up traps and shooting small poison tipped arrows.
Then it was time for fun and games. We played traditional bushmen games and they did traditional singing and dancing. Their games were fairly basic but incredibly fun. I definitely made a fool of myself at first, but after awhile got the hang of it and was able to hold my own. The best game was a mix between cricket and javelin - after a running approach to a mound of sand and grass you throw a spear so it short hops the mound and then takes off. This was extremely difficult but I managed a couple of decent throws and it was incredibly fun. After playing for quite some time the family sang and danced as the sun set. The perfect end to an incredible day that I will never forget.
I'll post some videos from the day once I'm back in the states...
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
WHAT THE FUCK?!?!?!
I went on to CNN.com to catch up on any news I may have missed and found this...
No further comment but if you wish to read the article here's the link, http://edition.cnn.com/2011/HEALTH/05/09/face.transplant.boston/index.html?hpt=C2.
No further comment but if you wish to read the article here's the link, http://edition.cnn.com/2011/HEALTH/05/09/face.transplant.boston/index.html?hpt=C2.
Monday, May 9, 2011
Caffeine Please
This is one of the gayest things I've ever said: I'd kill someone for a Starbucks right now!
After 4 straight days of serious drinking I'm writing this post from on board my British Airways plane (pre-takeoff of course) from Durban to Johannesburg. I was out until 3:10am last night and had a 4am wakeup call this morning to catch my 4:45am ride to the airport. After many attempts, or so claims the front desk, I answered my phone at 5:10am. Following the quickest packing and wash-up in the history of humankind & an extra hundred rand (approx US$15) to my cab driver I just made my flight. I'm still hammered however and feel like death and really need an iced coffee (believe it or not, that can't be purchased in Durban airport).
On top of all that, I managed to lose my South African cell phone - weird...
This is the first of 4 flights today: Durban - Johannesburg - Gaborone - Maun - Grasslands Bushman Camp in the Central Kalahari. As much as I'm dreading the trip I'm real fired up to go back to Botswana!
After 4 straight days of serious drinking I'm writing this post from on board my British Airways plane (pre-takeoff of course) from Durban to Johannesburg. I was out until 3:10am last night and had a 4am wakeup call this morning to catch my 4:45am ride to the airport. After many attempts, or so claims the front desk, I answered my phone at 5:10am. Following the quickest packing and wash-up in the history of humankind & an extra hundred rand (approx US$15) to my cab driver I just made my flight. I'm still hammered however and feel like death and really need an iced coffee (believe it or not, that can't be purchased in Durban airport).
On top of all that, I managed to lose my South African cell phone - weird...
This is the first of 4 flights today: Durban - Johannesburg - Gaborone - Maun - Grasslands Bushman Camp in the Central Kalahari. As much as I'm dreading the trip I'm real fired up to go back to Botswana!
Saturday, May 7, 2011
Cats & Cabs
Since I'm only able to get online periodically I've got two quick stories, and I'm not sure when the next post will follow.
On my last game drive at Mkuze Falls we came across 4 male cheetahs - which is crazy because cheetahs are usually solitary - and they were hungry. We watched them stalk and chase a herd of wildebeest down a flat airstrip at the camp. They weren't able to catch any of them, but seeing 4 cheetahs sprinting at full speed on an open plain was one of the coolest things I've ever seen in my life. My only regret is that this happened at about 6:20am and it was too dark to capture a video.
First of all, the conference that I'm at is AWESOME! Tonight I went to a hosted dinner at one of the best restaurants in Durban. Our cab on the way there had strobing disco lights, an absurd sound system, & tv screens on the back of the headrests that played the video of the song playing. When we arrived at the restaurant - which turned into a total shitshow - one of my colleagues said that the cab ride over was by far the most ridiculous cab ride she's ever taken. This obviously lead to me telling stories of about a dozen other cab rides that SHIT on that one (although this one was fun), including but not limited to:
- Ali Baba*
- Hunting knife*
- Coke off dashboards*
- Miracle Mile*
- Troise's hand*
Needless to say that after these stories half of the table thought I was the biggest scumbag on the face of the earth and the other half thought I was the coolest human alive; regardless of which category they fell in they all pretty much pissed their pants laughing...
* I've always wanted to use an asterisk like a disclaimer on my blog. But seriously, if you were in the cab for any of those rides you know what I'm talking about...
On my last game drive at Mkuze Falls we came across 4 male cheetahs - which is crazy because cheetahs are usually solitary - and they were hungry. We watched them stalk and chase a herd of wildebeest down a flat airstrip at the camp. They weren't able to catch any of them, but seeing 4 cheetahs sprinting at full speed on an open plain was one of the coolest things I've ever seen in my life. My only regret is that this happened at about 6:20am and it was too dark to capture a video.
First of all, the conference that I'm at is AWESOME! Tonight I went to a hosted dinner at one of the best restaurants in Durban. Our cab on the way there had strobing disco lights, an absurd sound system, & tv screens on the back of the headrests that played the video of the song playing. When we arrived at the restaurant - which turned into a total shitshow - one of my colleagues said that the cab ride over was by far the most ridiculous cab ride she's ever taken. This obviously lead to me telling stories of about a dozen other cab rides that SHIT on that one (although this one was fun), including but not limited to:
- Ali Baba*
- Hunting knife*
- Coke off dashboards*
- Miracle Mile*
- Troise's hand*
Needless to say that after these stories half of the table thought I was the biggest scumbag on the face of the earth and the other half thought I was the coolest human alive; regardless of which category they fell in they all pretty much pissed their pants laughing...
* I've always wanted to use an asterisk like a disclaimer on my blog. But seriously, if you were in the cab for any of those rides you know what I'm talking about...
Thursday, May 5, 2011
Planes, Trains and Automobiles (literally)...
So after a 30 hour door to door trip I've finally made it to the first camp on my journey, Mkuze Falls Private Game Reserve in Kwa Zulu Natal, South Africa.
It was about an hour and a half on train(s), approx 17 on planes, and finally 3 by car; with the other 9 hours spent in airports.
The effort was well worth it; following dinner and a snooze I've already been out on a game drive & walk and seen some incredible animals!
It was about an hour and a half on train(s), approx 17 on planes, and finally 3 by car; with the other 9 hours spent in airports.
The effort was well worth it; following dinner and a snooze I've already been out on a game drive & walk and seen some incredible animals!
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
Bad Coffee Before Boarding...
I'm writing from an incredibly familiar location - Peet's Coffee & Tea in international terminal #4 at JFK. I've already spent A LOt more time at this locale than I could've ever imagined, or desired - but it's just a means to an end well worth it.
I'm flying to Durban, South Africa (after a quick safari pitstop) for a conference called Indaba. Work certainly gets done during the day at this annual event, but by god does it turn into a shitshow in the evenings. At the conclusion of Indaba I'll be returning to one of my favorite destinations in the world, Botswana, to spend 6 nights exploring some new safari camps. Internet service could be dicey on this trip (especially in Botswana) but I'll be sure to share stories and photos whenever possible.
I'm flying to Durban, South Africa (after a quick safari pitstop) for a conference called Indaba. Work certainly gets done during the day at this annual event, but by god does it turn into a shitshow in the evenings. At the conclusion of Indaba I'll be returning to one of my favorite destinations in the world, Botswana, to spend 6 nights exploring some new safari camps. Internet service could be dicey on this trip (especially in Botswana) but I'll be sure to share stories and photos whenever possible.
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